Nutrition Workshop Speakers

Thomas Mayo

Co-Founder, SOS Hydration Inc

Tom Mayo is the Co-Founder and director one of the world's most advanced rehydration drinks called SOS. SOS was born in the US on April 21st 2013 after months of development, testing and trialling.

SOS is one of the only commercial drinks that can be compared to an IV drip to combat dehydration in the USA. SOS ambassadors are the Wallabies, the mens and womens Australian sevens teams, Indy Car driver and Indy Car 500 winner Scott Dixon, Sir Ben Ainslie (4 x OlympicGold Medallist), Terenzo Bozzone and others to name but a few.

SOS is now sold worldwide through hundreds of stores around the world; most notably CVS, Seven Eleven, Kroger. SOS sold millions of drinks in 2017 and in 2018 just launched a new market run of a new Ready to Drink in NZ nationwide.

Tom Mayo is also a director of Mayo and Calder, one of the world's largest Major Event Delivery agencies that has offices throughout major cities in Asia Pacific and their most recent project is the Volvo Ocean Race.

Dr Cameron Mitchell

Senior Research Fellow, Liggins Institute, University of Auckland

Dr Mitchell is an exercise physiologist by training with expertise in muscle hypertrophy and atrophy. He gained his bachelors and PhD from McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario Canada and a Master's degree from Brock University in Canada, all in the discipline of kinesiology.

Since 2014 he has worked in the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland conducting human clinical trials on the roles of exercise, protein and lipids in preventing age-related decline in muscle size and function as well as inducing muscle hypertrophy in athletes. He employs research techniques that include muscle function testing, imaging, stable isotopes for protein turnover measurements and molecular biology techniques.

Dr Mitchell has published over 50 scientific papers in leading nutrition and physiology journals.

Jeni Pearce

Dietitian, Performance Nutrition Lead at High Performance Sport NZ

One of the world's leading health and sports Dietitians, Jeni Pearce returned to NZ in 2013 from the UK to Head Performance Nutrition at High Performance Sport NZ.

She was the Head of Performance Nutrition at the EIS (English Institute of Sport), the Olympic Nutritionist for Team GB for Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012, England Cricket and McLaren F1. Prior to leaving for the UK (2007), Jeni ran her own private nutrition clinics (20+ years) and has been held positions such as President of the International organization PINES (Professionals in Nutrition and Exercise for Sports), the chairperson of the NZ Nutrition Foundation and Executive Officer of Agencies for Nutrition Action.

She has also authored 12 books, co-authored textbook chapters and research articles and has given countless lectures, and conference addresses in NZ, and internationally. In 2015 she was awarded a MNZM in the Queen's Birthday honors for services to Sports Nutrition.

Stacy Sims, PhD

Senior Research Scientist at the University of Waikato

Stacy T. Sims, PhD, is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Waikato after returning to academia from a 6 year hiatus in industry.

She is an applied researcher, innovator and entrepreneur in human performance, specifically sex differences in training, nutrition, and environmental conditions. Prior to being launched into industry, she served as an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist at Stanford University from 2007 to 2012, where she specialized in sex differences of environmental and nutritional considerations for recovery and performance, specializing in women's health and performance.

With the unique opportunities Silicon Valley has to offer, during her tenure at Stanford, she had the opportunity to translate earlier research into consumer products and a science-based layperson's book written to explain sex differences in training and nutrition across the lifespan. Both the consumer product companies and the book challenged the existing dogma for women in exercise, nutrition, and health outcomes.

Her contributions to the international research environment and the sports nutrition industry has established a new niche in sports nutrition; and established her reputation as the expert in sex differences in training, nutrition, and health. As a direct result, she has been named as one of the to 50 visionaries of the running industry (2015), one of the top 40 women changing the paradigm of her field (2017), one of the top four visionaries in the outdoor sport industry (2017), and one of the top four individuals changing the landscape in triathlon nutrition (2017).

A regular featured speaker at professional and academic conferences, including those hosted by USOC, HPSNZ, and USA cycling, she resides in Mount Maunganui with her husband and young daughter.

Katy Bluett - Facilitator

Callaghan Innovation, Group Manager Sector Impact – Food & Beverage

Katy Bluett is the Group Manager Sector Impact – Food & Beverage for Callaghan Innovation and is passionate about growing F&B businesses. Callaghan Innovation is a crown entity focused on growing NZ's innovation economy by helping businesses succeed through technology.

Katy is responsible for developing and growing a national strategic road map for food science and technology within New Zealand. A focus of the role is creating new initiatives that will support innovation in F&B, connecting companies within the Food sector with scientists and engineers from public and private organisations to accelerate innovation, and strengthen industry networks.

Katy's background has been in senior Innovation, Business Development and Leadership roles within a range of companies including Fonterra, Lion Dairy & Drinks and Kerry Ingredients and over this time has launched over 800 products.